J.D. over at Mouth of the Brazos has a semi-book review that reminded me of a war story, a true one, as we say, to distinguish it from the stretchers some of us have been known to tell a time or two.
J.D., a onetime Marine who shared my year (1969) and approximate terrain in fun-loving Southeast Asia, was so irritated at the 2010 book An America Amnesia: How the US Congress Forced the Surrenders of South Vietnam and Cambodia that he stopped reading: “It was making me sick to my stomach. The entire viewpoint is asinine beyond description.”
His point is that we were losing the war practically the whole way along, even if the (highly suspect) official statistics seem to support the notion that we were winning. Thus when Congress cut off military aid to SVN (which did, indeed, force their surrender) they were only ratifying what practically everyone, except the Pentagon and the military careerists with their vested interests, seemed to finally understand. It is all debatable of course. Isn’t everything?
My true war story contains a clue to why we were losing the war long before the Congress acted: A Popular Forces squad my light-infantry Army advisory team set up in the summer of 1969 (about the time Neil Armstrong was taking his giant leap for mankind) in a sand and bamboo outpost on the edge of what we laughingly called our Controlled Fire Zone—it was such only for the American units which had to clear indirect fires with us. The enemy did what they pleased, mainly at night. They owned the night. “Charlie’s Dark,” I called it.
The PF’s were the lowest of the low in the SVN military, ill-equipped, ill-led, ill-clad and ill-fed. Ill everything. Mostly because the SVN command structure and their supply system were just totally corrupt. Everything got stolen or sold long before it filtered down to our lowly PFs. Which is a big reason the war was a loser.
These poor guys, some very young, a few old enough to be the grandfathers of the very young ones, had M-16s, of which they were very proud, but little else. They needed a 60mm mortar for their defense but we couldn’t get one through their crooked supply. So we stole one. We stole it from the 7th Marine Regiment which was the nearest and largest American unit in our AO (area of operations). We stole everything essential from the Marines: our food, our ammunition, the gasoline for our jeeps and our generators. If I remember correctly we stole a generator. But that might be a stretcher.
The true part is the poor PFs were overrun the first night they heroically agreed to stay in their pathetic little outpost. About half were killed, the other half sensibly ran away. The enemy (mainly Main Force VC and NVA in our neck of the woods) did leave the mortar behind. We passed it on to another PF squad. But we could never get them to stay in the outpost. They weren’t cowards. They just weren’t stupid. Unlike some of the guys still pushing the “congress lost the war” line. Any line doggie with any sense knows better whether he’s willing to admit it to himself or not. It can be a hard admission, even after all these years.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Ruff Puffs vs. MF VC and NVA? Got to feel sorry for those guys.
They were at their best in company size operations, but even then it was touch and go, and worked best when we could summon artillery or air support.
Like I said – or meant to, anyhow. I lost a comment or a post somewhere around here on this subject. I get kinda wound up about it, still, even after all these years.
The PFs and ARVNs just knew they had no dog in the fight. They were gonna be losers no matter who won, SVN or NVN. I don’t blame them. But I guarantee nobody in my unit would ever trust any of them to watch our back. You never knew if they’d be there or not.
jd
I’d like to see how many of those brave brave (stand against the machine) OWS types would stay there with those bad boys around in the night.
Statistically, James, about half of our own generation either dodged the draft, hid out in the national guard which LBJ specifically avoided sending, or, when the lottery kicked in, simply avoided service. I’m not sure whether it was actual cowardice but it all came out the same in the end.
PFs and ARVNS were apples and oranges, JD. Marvin the ARVN had everything in equipment, training and leadership (such as it was) and still had a reputation for cowardice and being untrustworthy. Friends of mine who advised them argued that it was unfair, but what I saw of them wasn’t inspiring.
The PFs rep was for haplessness and it was fairly well earned. They and their better-trained brothers (the RFs, or Regional Forces, the Ruffs of the Ruff Puffs) were skilled at getting in situations where their back was to the wall. They were usually capable of getting out of it, else I’d not be writing this. It did make for some unpleasant moments, especially on night ambush patrol. We knew if they were there or not, however, because there were so few of them with us to begin with.
“Statistically, James, about half of our own generation either dodged the draft, hid out in the national guard which LBJ specifically avoided sending, or, when the lottery kicked in, simply avoided service. I’m not sure whether it was actual cowardice but it all came out the same in the end.”
Yes, I know. Usually the OWS types don’t bug me, but every once in the while I wish they were out playing with some November Victors in the night.
Dealing with a country’s military can have varying results depending on the unit. I’m sure your remembrances are painfully accurate but the Marine CAP program worked out rather well.
Likewise, the SVN had some pretty strac units like the VN Marines and Rangers (the bridge at Dong Ha during the Easter Offensive comes to mind), and they put in a determined defense at An Loc and Xuan Loc.
But would I have wanted your assignment? No way. God blessed you with survival.
No kidding. He also saw to it that I spent my last five months at headquarters, which was a gift from out of the blue. So I had both experiences, field and REMF.
Yes, the CAPs supposedly were the best, but I think they were squads living with squads in particular villages or groups of hamlets. The Army, as always, tried to do more with less and, generally, wound up with less. The VN Airborne supposedly were good. I never saw any. Saw an ARVN cav outfit in APCs, but they were not impressive.
BTW, haven’t seen “strac” written out in years. Do you know that came from “strike,” a late 50s, early 60s Army concept, I believe it was. Don’t know how it got mispronounced.
Ok Stanley, enough of the good old days! Back to the present.
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2013/10/16/the-third-party/
Thanks for the link. As always Richard’s view is bleak. He had another good one I’m going to post on about why the ObamaCare software doesn’t work. Being a programmer he ought to know. Mr. Goon used to be one before he retired. We’ll have to see if he agrees with Fernandez.
I was about to reply with the derivation of ‘strac’, but I find that it is lost in the ancient mists of time.
Well, they always say that your memory is always the second thing to go.
Heh. I could do without the memory. It’s the first thing I miss.
Really? I don’t remember.
There’s a whole lot about Richard that he ain’t letting on much. Just from some of the things he mentions and how his bio reads, I’d say he was definitely underground in the Philippines for a while and if not a communist very close to it for a little bit. That being said I also think whatever changes he’s made are legit and he has unique insights along with an intellect with a lot of horsepower.
RF’s been one of my favorite bloggers for a long time. I once thought, from his essays on military tactics that he was former American army. That might be true. His novel “No Way In,” however, suggests he was a civilian revolutionary against the Marcos regime. Get it at Amazon if you haven’t already. It’s a good read. These days, I think, he lives in Australia where he’s a software designer/programmer and a PJMedia writer who does fiction on the side.
“RF’s been one of my favorite bloggers for a long time.” so have I. No the army angle just doesn’t ring true to me, but the civ does. The Marcos regime timeline fits well.
Read his book. You won’t be sorry: http://tinyurl.com/kz3sroc
“PFs and ARVNs” :: apples and oranges. Maybe so, but they were still all fruits.
Don’t gimme the spiel about the true definition of “fruit”. Don’t need it, and besides, you know what I mean.